Consensus Elusive on Plans for D.C. Land

Mayor Vincent Gray is exploring the logistics of building a new training facility for the Washington Redskins, currently based in Ashburn, Va., on a portion of Reservation 13.

The District of Columbia, subject to wide-reaching Congressional control, seldom gets to determine what happens to a swath of land as ripe for possibilities as that of Reservation 13, a 67-acre area along the bank of the Anacostia River.

But now that Washington, D.C., officials have that power, they’re finding that they don’t all share the same vision for the area.

Mayor Vincent Gray is exploring the logistics of building a new training facility for the Washington Redskins, currently based in Ashburn, Va., on a portion of Reservation 13. That has riled up some officials and citizens.

Some argue it would run counter to the master plan for Reservation 13. Adopted by D.C. Council in 2003, the 37-page planning document lays out specifications for how the land should be developed, maximizing its “potential to contribute to [residents’] quality of life” while spurring economic growth. A football practice space, foes say, doesn’t fit that framework.

Beyond that, a Redskins training facility would squander a rare opportunity to “do good” for residents who are often limited by Congressional strictures, argue others, including Councilmember Tommy Wells (D), whose Ward 6 previously encompassed Reservation 13 before redistricting shifted it to Ward 7 last year.

Wells called it “a wasted opportunity” at an informational meeting with residents Monday.

Local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Brian Flahaven agrees.

“We really need to take advantage of the opportunity that we have this land that the federal government has given to the city to continue to expand [and] build something that’s going to be [to] the benefit of the neighborhood and the city and not to the benefit of somebody’s private interest,” he said.

Need for a Plan

The debate’s origins go back to 2002, when Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), then-chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, said residents and local government needed to explore how to best use the area.

“[Landrieu] said [that] before the city can spend or waste any money on Reservation 13, they needed to ... determine what was best suited for that site, and it had to involve the neighborhood and the community,” community activist Frank Zampatori said.